Every day from last Monday’s Inauguration it seems that half of our nation is on cloud nine and half are in a nightmare. It seems impossible that anything could turn the tide from polarization and division to understanding and collaboration. But if we allowed ourselves to imagine for a moment, what would it look like? Could neighbors first listen to each other? If that happened, could neighborhoods come together? And if that happened, could a town or city come together? At Civic Canopy, we believe that a thriving and connected Colorado is possible with connected community networks.
First used in the 1500s as a combination of the words “net”, open textile fabric tied or woven with a mesh, and “work”, a discrete act performed by someone, today, we use the word Network to describe an interconnected or interrelated chain, group, or system or an interconnected group or association of persons (Meriam Webster Dictionary). The definition that we use at the Civic Canopy is that a network is a group or system of interrelated people or things that exchange data, information, and/or resources.
The value of networks and connection is evident whenever a community faces a challenge. For example, when a challenge arises at a local, regional, or statewide level, and a collaborative group to solve the challenge doesn’t already exist, it can take a huge number of resources and time to bring new people together to solve the challenge. When a vibrant collaborative group exists, and its infrastructure is maintained and cultivated, challenges can be solved more quickly and with fewer resources. Furthermore, when these long-term collaborative groups are connected, they can work together to solve increasingly complex problems at greater scale and share their experiences and expertise.
We imagine that by 2028 there will be a robust network of collaborative groups coming together as a civic network across Colorado. Since November, the Canopy team has deeply explored what networks mean to us and how a civic network across Colorado could drive systems level change.
Raising the Civic Canopy
The Civic Canopy’s focus on networks is not a recent development. Rather, it has been at its core since its founding in 2003 when a group of partners began to explore how to approach community change collaboratively. They noticed that within the civic sphere there were scattered fragments – many groups doing great work but working independently. The group created a series of “Raising the Canopy” events which brought together more than 800 people who explored ways to improve civic health together. Ultimately, these events led to the development and creation of Civic Canopy as a nonprofit in 2008. The three long term goals that guide the Canopy’s work are:
- Communities have the capacity to collaborate toward equity
- The Civic Canopy is a network of collaborative networks
- The Civic Canopy network acts collectively to make systems more equitable
Much of Canopy’s early work supported Collective Impact initiatives such as the Early Childhood Colorado Partnership, Colorado 9to25, Eastside Unified, and the Colorado Afterschool Partnership. Some of these initiatives relied on the Civic Canopy as a backbone organization and operated on a hub and spoke model, others had numerous, separate hubs and spokes. As the Canopy sought to transition capacity and focus on community ownership, we have been building a multi-hub network through Canopy’s role as a capacity builder for organizations and programs such as Colorado Health Foundation’s Locally Focused Work, Colorado Office of Health Equity’s Health Disparities and Community Grant Program, and Great Outdoors Colorado.
Properties of Strong Networks
In Network Theory, researchers study the way elements in a network interact. Nodes are elements in a network that interact with one another and are impacted by binding connections called edges. Nodes can be people, organizations, and coalitions. Nodes can be connected by strong or weak ties. For example, people who are close friends have strong ties whereas those who are acquaintances may have weak ties. Nodes may also view their ties differently depending on their view on the degree of intimacy in the relationship (USC 2023).
According to Building Smart Communities through Network Weaving by Valdis Krebs and June Holley, there are five general patterns observed in effective networks:
- Nodes link together because of common attributes, goals, and/or governance
- Vibrant networks maintain connections to diverse clusters, which is critical for innovation.
- Robust pathways have several paths to any two nodes. If one node is damaged, information can still flow.
- Some nodes are more prominent than others.
- Network paths tend to be short which allows information and resources to flow quickly.
Our Vision
Throughout the past 20 years, the Civic Canopy has worked in all but four counties in Colorado, building relationships with individuals and organizations, and providing capacity building services such as regional visioning, coaching, leadership development, and network convening. We saw that trust, belonging, and collaboration are key conditions that enable communities to solve their most critical challenges. We have learned that under the right conditions, networks self-organize toward higher levels of complexity as a way of meeting the needs of their members. In the next stage of evolution, we want to move toward a core-periphery model of connected community networks. If the Civic Canopy can strengthen the connection between networks—at the regional level and at the statewide level— we can help increase the power of individual actors to impact issues they care about and thereby increase the vitality of our collective statewide network.
At our current moment of increasing polarization and division, our next step toward creating the future we envision is through the launch of Civic Hubs – the prominent nodes of the statewide network – that bring people together and allow answers to emerge from the collective. We see that a Civic Hub is an entity that is responsive to the community or region in which it operates, strengthens civic culture, and brings diverse perspectives to the table. Many organizations and entities are already playing this role in their communities and the tools and services Canopy provides can assist them in having greater impact. In regions without civic hubs, Canopy can help launch new hubs by bringing community members together to develop a shared vision and create action plans that deliver real change. This year, the Canopy team will embark on mapping Colorado’s civic network and hubs, which will be key partners to achieving our vision of connected community networks across Colorado. If you would like to join this movement, contact us!